My Costco trip and how I plan to stick to my $300/month budget for our family of 6!!!

Ok so I stopped shopping at Costco for quite awhile when I was at my peak of couponing…I was able to pretty much provide for our family for about $50 a month. However, I have not been able to get out and “coupon” for myself as much lately…primarily because of just having a baby…and because we just moved across country…so I am re-assessing our budget and have upped it to $300 a month (with the hope that I don’t actually spend that).

Sooooo…we headed off to Costco today as a family and stocked up on some meats, produce and essentials that we were in need of! Plus we splurged on a few craving items 🙂 We we able to grab enough produce to hold us over for at least the next 2 weeks (given it doesn’t all go bad before that!) Meat that should cover our meals for the next 3 weeks (at least) and several extra essentials and splurges…we paid a total of $225. That leaves me with $75 left to coupon and sales ad shop the rest of the items we may need throughout the month.

It is so sad that I am having to spend money on some of these items…as I had an AMAZING freezer stockpile and vegetable garden back in Washington that would have provided most of my meats and veggies for the summer at no cost to me!!! But oh well…God had other plans and someone else is enjoying that food while I am learning how to adjust to midwest grocery shopping and 4 kiddos!!!

Here is a picture of our new baby Kyron (2 weeks old)…just cause he is so dang cute!!!

I am planning on starting up a garden as soon as I can…I do have a small strawberry patch and tomato plants right now…and will be adding a few more veggies and blueberry bushes to my garden for fall harvest, and next year I will hopefully have a full vegetable garden again!!! I am also planning on working harder at finding some HOT meat deals here in Kansas so I can begin my meat freezer stockpile soon. As of now my rule of thumb is I do not spend more than $2.00/pound for meat…if it goes significantly below that I will buy more than we need for the  month and put it away in the freezer 🙂 (By the way I never spend more than $1.00/lb for chicken) And I try not to spend more than $1.00/pound for produce!

Question: What is your stock up or purchase price for meat???

Oh ya…I almost forgot! I would love to see your hauls and shopping trips…post pictures and what you paid for your trip up on my Facebook Page and I will choose one winner every week to receive a FREE set of weekly inserts mailed to their home!!! Good luck…happy shopping and I can’t wait to see your hauls!!!